Magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) and absorption spectra are reported for the CH (methylidyne or methyne) free radical isolated in an Ar matrix (CH/Ar) over the temperature range 1.4-15.9 K and the magnetic-field range 0-4 T. Data for the A 2 ∆ r X 2 Π, B 2 Σr X 2 Π, and C 2 Σ + r X 2 Π band systems indicate a substantial quenching of the orbital angular momentum of the CH ground-state term. This is interpreted as being a consequence of crystal-field interactions involving atoms of the host lattice. Analysis of the zeroth moments of the spectra yields an empirical spin-orbit coupling constant A Π ) 21 ( 1 cm -1 and orbital reduction factor κ ) 0.26 ( 0.03, corresponding to a crystal-field splitting of V Π ) 78 ( 14 cm -1 for the X 2 Π term. For the A 2 ∆ excited-state term, the first MCD moments give A ∆ ) 5 ( 1 cm -1 , and an upper limit of V ∆ j 15 cm -1 is estimated from the dispersion of the MCD.